Knuckle-Cracking Dole-Scrounger

I've just been reading an interesting article on the yahoo homepage (oh yes) about the effects of cracking your knuckles. My mum always told me that cracking my knuckles will give me arthritis in my later years, and I believed her, but good news, apparently it now won't! This is all thanks to a Dr Donald Unger, who won a Nobel prize for his research into arthritis and rheumatism, partly down to research which involved him cracking the knuckles of only his left hand for over 56 years. What an amazing feat! Winning an actual Nobel Prize for cracking your knuckles everyday. I wonder what other annoying habit you could do everyday for 56 years in order to win a Nobel Prize? I honestly cannot think of one. 


Today I have gone for walk, given my cold has started to wear off, been beaten heavily at 'Call Of Duty' at a friend's house - proving just how useless I am at video games, and once again have been disheartened by the lack of correspondence from the jobs I have applied for. I read today that the UK is experiencing the highest unemployment levels in 17 years, which is hardly encouraging. After about 5 weeks of feverishly sending off applications, writing letters, making phone calls and signing onto agencies, as well as regular meetings at the jobcentre, i really thought that something would have come up by now, and that I would have at least received a couple of replies.
It is very difficult in this situation not to entirely lose heart and just give up and accept your dole-fed fate. The skies are grey, the future is uncertain, and opportunities seem rare and bleak. So I just have to get up everyday, look for jobs, apply to them, then ring or email the agencies to see what they have, which is nothing, and then await replies, which aren't forthcoming. It really does start to get to you after a while, and you start to consider what the point is and that maybe you can just manage on the benefits alone and sod everything else. Then you realise that the benefits are not nearly enough to grant you an enjoyable quality of life and start applying again. I am really hoping that something will come along soon and break the cycle, a little like my 'Groundhog Day' themed entry a couple of days ago.


Yahoo also featured a piece about a marathon runner who came 3rd in a marathon at Kielder, coming in at a time of 2 hours and 51 minutes. Unfortunately, he was soon stripped of his Bronze medal because he took the bus for the final 6 miles. This cheered me up a bit.